Automated mailing equipment and the like frequently incorporate inverting or orientation-changing conveyors for changing the angular orientation of light, thin articles, such as sheet-shaped articles of material like mailpieces and currency. Conventional inverting conveyors generally include two flexible endless belts each having a span confronting a corresponding span of the other during operation. The confronting spans are contiguous and twisted helically by an angular increment, such as 90° or 180°, relative to one another. Articles captured between the confronting spans are rotated by the angular increment by the curved movement of the confronting spans, which is coordinated by moving the confronting spans in the same downstream direction at a common speed so that the articles are progressively rotated.
Generally, the endless belts are wrapped about entrance and exit rollers or pulleys but are otherwise unsupported along their length. This lack of support limits the application of conventional inverting conveyors for changing the angular orientation of relatively heavy articles, such as filled food packages. For these types of packages, the inversion may be necessary to inspect the packaged food product or for label application. Although the inversion could be accomplished manually by personnel stationed along the packaging line, such manual manipulation of the articles would limit the line throughput. Also, the need for extra personnel would increase labor costs. On the other hand, an inverting conveyor does not reduce the line speed because the package inversion is performed without human intervention.
It is an object of this invention to increase the ability of an article conveyor to handle relatively heavy articles, such as filled food packages, particularly with respect to applications where the conveyor must change the angular orientation of the food package.
It is another object of this invention to optimize throughput and minimize labor costs associated with an orientation changing conveyor, particularly for applications involving filled food packages.
It is still another object of the present invention to overcome the above-described deficiencies of conventional inverting conveyors.